


darkness of the night

by yououui



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Blood and Injury, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23980714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yououui/pseuds/yououui
Summary: Cloud fears the night and the terrors it brings. Aerith is there to help him through it.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 6
Kudos: 164





	darkness of the night

**Author's Note:**

> Written based on a prompt from the lovely Mandi! I hope you like it ^▽^
> 
> Set vaguely after the end of Remake.  
> Minor depictions of blood and Aerith's death scene.

_It’s dark, as dark as midnight or the fears that shroud his mind. The only light comes from her, like her soul itself is a beacon that draws him forward to its safety. She lifts her head and looks at him with shining green eyes, smiles at him and clasps her hands together in prayer._

_“It’s okay, Cloud,” She says quietly, and Cloud doesn’t see her lips move but instead hears her voice inside his mind, echoing all around him._

_“What?” Cloud whispers into the darkness._

_“Don’t worry,” She says._

_And then cold, silver steel pierces through her stomach. Cloud’s mouth opens to yell, but he makes no sound. Her eyes widen and grow dim as her light fades away. She begins to fall forward and Cloud tries to catch her, to save her before it’s too late._

“You will never be able to save her,” _A voice says, low and cold and too familiar._

No, _Cloud thinks,_ I won’t let anything happen to her! I won’t let you hurt her!

“Oh, Cloud,” _The voice says, a whisper in Cloud’s ear._ “It is time you take a look at yourself.”

_Everything stills. Cloud feels a weight in his hands that wasn’t there before, and with lungs heaving for breath and a heart that seems to have stopped beating, he lowers his eyes._

_His sword is in his hands. Her blood drips down its blade, burns where it spills over his hands. Cloud’s eyes widen in fear, shock, regret, and he tries to let go but his hands stay clasped around the hilt until they’ve turned completely red. He tries to breathe, but all he can manage is a sharp gasp before his lungs lock up. He hopes he never breathes again, not after this. He hurt her._

_He_ killed _her._

_A cool hand touches his face and he fearfully lifts his eyes. She’s looking at him with a smile still. “It’s… Okay…” She says, even as blood drips from the corner of her lips. “Cloud…”_

No, _Cloud tries to say as her eyes fall shut._ Aerith!

_“…Cloud…”_

_She falls forward, over his blade, and her head lands limp on his shoulder. Cloud only finds his voice again when he screams._

“…Cloud! Wake up, Cloud!”

Cloud heard his own voice cry her name as his eyes snapped open. He was no longer in the darkness but back in his bed, in the room in the inn they were staying in. Above him was a wooden ceiling streaked with moonlight. He blinked and tried to take a breath, but then he saw concerned green eyes looking down at him, bright and alive.

“No!” He yelled with a swing of his arm to push her away from him as he jumped out of bed. He took stumbling steps back from her and shook his head. “No, don’t—!”

“Cloud,” Aerith said softly as she stepped towards him. “Cloud, it’s—“

“Don’t come near me!” Cloud yelled, throwing his arm out to keep a distance between them. He flinched when he felt a sharp pain in his skull, and suddenly the hand stretched out was once again red with blood. “Y-You can’t—!”

“Cloud, it’s _okay,_ ” Aerith said slowly.

Cloud saw it again, the darkness. He saw the light fade and Aerith in his arms, her blood hot where it spilled over him. His head felt like it was being split open with a knife and he cried out in pain, put both hands to his skull like it could hold his mind together. He pulled at his hair as he shook his head and stumbled back until he banged into the wall behind him.

“I let you die,” He whispered without realizing it. His entire body trembled. “I-I _killed_ you, I—“

Cool hands covered his own and immediately, the throbbing pain in his head lessened. He managed to gasp a breath and, like a child fearful of what he might see, lifted his eyes. What he saw was nothing to fear though, not like this. Those eyes could never frighten him when they were so full of life and looking at him so tenderly.

“Cloud, it was only a nightmare,” Aerith said softly. “I’m okay.”

“N-No, Aerith,” Cloud rasped. He looked her up and down, but there was no wound, no blood. “I-I did, I—“

“You didn’t do anything, Cloud,” Aerith assured him, and Cloud noticed that her fingers were gently brushing against the back of his hands. “It wasn’t real. I know _you_ would never hurt me.”

She took his hands in her own and pulled them from his head to hold in the space between the two of them, then brought them close to her sternum, like she was praying over him. As he looked at her, Cloud felt his mind clear, bit by bit. His eyes were wet and burning. “You’re…?”

Aerith squeezed his hands. “I’m right here,” She said.

Cloud took a stumbling step closer to her and she released his hands so that she could slip her arms around him in a tender hug that soothed his very soul. She pulled him close and held him tight, and Cloud fell into her embrace with ease. He rested his head on her shoulder with a shuddering sigh and blinked the wetness from his eyes.

Aerith rubbed her hands up and down Cloud’s back and the two just stood like that, together. Eventually, Cloud hesitantly raised his hands and returned Aerith’s embrace. As soon as he felt her in his arms, he couldn’t help it when he tightened his hold on her, held her as close to him as he could and buried his face in her neck. She was there. She was with him.

“Oh, Cloud,” Aerith sighed with a voice just barely above a whisper; somehow she managed to make Cloud’s name sound like some term of endearment, something he wanted to hear again in her voice.

“It felt so…” Cloud whispered.

“I know,” He felt her nod. “Dreams can be very scary like that, but it wasn’t real.”

Cloud swallowed and nodded. It wasn’t real. She was safe.

 _For now,_ the voice whispered in his ear.

He was frightened of himself, frightened of his own hands that still burned from the blood that stained them. There was another part of himself that he did not know and could not see, yet could control him utterly. How much longer did he have until he lost himself to it?

And the dream, so real it felt more like one of the visions that plagued him. How much time did he have left before the unknown version of himself pulled out his blade and—

Cloud held Aerith tighter and tried to breathe. He should distance himself, he knew it. He should stay away from her, for her own sake. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go.

 _“I know_ you _would never hurt me.”_

Did she believe her own words? Did she know of the other part of Cloud? Did she fear him, as well?

No, he would never let the dream become reality. If there was a part of him that ever wanted to hurt Aerith, he’d kill it before it could, even if it meant killing himself in the process.

“Cloud,” Aerith said after a long while. “Why don’t we get you to bed, yeah?”

“Just,” Cloud’s voice cracked over the word. “Just a little longer.”

“Okay,” Aerith whispered with a nod. “As long as you need.”

Cloud allowed himself five more slow, deep breaths, and then finally nodded and pulled back from her. She kept her arms around him for a moment while she regarded his face, searching for something he wasn’t sure of. She smiled and cupped one of his cheeks with her hand.

“Feeling better?” She asked.

Cloud swallowed and lowered his eyes. “Yeah,” He said. “And… Sorry.”

“Hmm? Why on earth are you apologizing?” Aerith asked in her lilting tone.

“For earlier,” Cloud said, still without looking at her. “When I—“

Aerith cut Cloud off with a soft pinch to his cheek, which finally made him look up at her with big eyes. “You don’t have to apologize for anything,” She told him with one more pinch.

She released him and took a step back, and immediately Cloud felt cold and his arms empty. He wanted to be hugging her again. “Thanks,” He said with a stiff nod.

“I think it’s time to go back to sleep,” Aerith said with a nod towards his bed. “Don’t you?”

Cloud nodded and walked back over to his bed. He sat on it with a heavy sigh and ran his hand down his face. He looked up at her standing over him and frowned. “I woke you up, didn’t I? When I was…” When he was screaming and crying in his sleep. He didn't even want to know how he sounded, how loud he must have been to call her to his room.

Aerith waved her hand in front of her face and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Just worry about getting back to sleep, okay?”

Cloud swallowed and nodded. “R-Right,” He murmured as he turned to lie back down. She was too kind to him, he thought. She should be angry at him, angry for waking her, for pushing her away, for worrying her. And yet, she just looked over him like she alone would chase away all the demons from his mind, that gentle smile always playing at her lips.

Once he had lied back down, she nodded at him and turned to leave to return to her room. Fear gripped Cloud, sent a shock down his spine that had him sitting up again and crying, “Wait!”

With her hand on the doorknob, Aerith stopped and turned to look back at him with big eyes. Cloud was reaching his hand out towards her without even realizing it, and with his face burning in embarrassment, he dropped it back to the bed and looked away.

He wasn’t a child. A could sleep perfectly fine on his own, even after a nightmare. But…

But it wasn’t about the nightmare, nor was it about being alone. It was about being away from _her._ He needed her to stay close, he needed to see her with his own eyes and know for certain that she was safe.

Cloud blinked when he felt something touch the top of his head and looked up to find Aerith once again standing over him, patting his head. “Do you want me to stay?” She asked, and there was no judgement in her eyes or tone.

Cloud swallowed and nodded. He then looked around the bare room and made a move to get off of the bed. “S-Sorry, I’ll sleep on the floor, you take the—”

Her hands on his shoulders stopped him. “ _You_ take the bed,” She said. “I think you need it more than I do.”

There she was, being selfless once again. “But... “ Cloud cleared his throat and tried to keep his voice even. “I don’t want you to sleep on the floor.”

“Hmm…” She looked up at the ceiling as she pondered, put one finger to her chin and tilted her head. She then smiled sheepishly at Cloud and shrugged one shoulder. “Well, if you’re okay with it, we could always share the bed.”

Cloud’s thoughts tripped over themselves as he took in her words. “I-Is that—okay?” He stammered. “With you?”

“I’m fine!” Aerith said cheerily. “I can sleep anywhere, you know.”

Unable to come up with any other idea, Cloud nodded dumbly and shifted over on the bed to give her space to climb on. He pressed his body close to the wall to keep as much distance as he could between them, but not because he didn’t want to be close to her. It was the complete opposite, but he worried what his body would do on its own if he fell asleep, if he’d pull her close to him without realizing, and he was nervous to offend her.

“Come on, Cloud, relax,” Aerith said like she could read his thoughts. “You’ll never be able to sleep if you stay so tense.”

Cloud nodded in the dark and tried to relax his body. He laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. His body was exhausted but his mind was wide awake, hyper aware of Aerith’s company, of her warmth and her slow breathing. She grew so still and quiet, Cloud wondered if she had already dozed off. Just then, she rolled over onto her side and cushioned her hands under her head.

“Hey, Cloud?” She said softly, and Cloud turned his head to look at her. They were not touching, yet he thought there was something comfortably intimate about lying here like this with her, just the two of them. She asked, “You know I’ll always be by your side, right?”

Cloud’s lips parted as he looked at her, at her eyes that seemed to always shine even in the darkness of the night. The truth was, he wasn’t certain, and that was what frightened him so. But now, lying by her side like this, her words felt like a promise. Cloud was inclined to trust in Aerith.

Silently, Cloud nodded. Aerith smiled at him. “Good,” She whispered. “Now go to sleep.”

Helpless to her demands, Cloud looked back up at the ceiling and then shut his eyes. Immediately, he felt sleepy again, like she had somehow managed to cast a spell on him. Maybe it was her promise, or seeing her so comfortably lying next to him, but the tension in Cloud’s body melted away and he felt himself begin to doze off to a light sleep. As with most nights, the fear of another nightmare kept him from sleeping any deeper, but even just this felt like a reprieve on his tired mind.

It was when Cloud was half-asleep that he felt slim arms slip around him and pull him close. He turned into that hold easily, rested his forehead against her chest and let her body shield him from the night. He didn’t fall asleep for the rest of the night, not fully, too afraid to drift off and find out this was all a dream, too. 

But lying there like that, her arms around him, able to listen to her heartbeat, Cloud felt more relaxed then he had in a long, long time. For once, he wished that morning would not come.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! come scream about how much you love them with me
> 
> [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/yououuii)  
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